Mirror refused permission to appeal contempt ruling

MGN has been refused permission to appeal contempt of court ruling for its coverage of the arrest of Chris Jefferies

Credit: Dominic Lipinski/PA

Mirror Group Newspapers has been refused permission to appeal after
it was found guilty of contempt of court over its coverage of the
arrest of Chris Jefferies in relation to the murder of Bristol
landscape architect Joanna Yeates.

The Supreme Court today refused the appeal "because this was a very
clear case of contempt of court".

The three presiding judges found the newspapers' coverage of the
January arrest of Jefferies had created "substantial risks to the
course of justice" after the case was presented by Dominic Grieve,
the attorney general.

News Group Newspapers, owner of the Sun, withdrew its application
to appeal.

Today's decision said: "Permission to appeal was refused because
the application does not raise an arguable point of law of general
public importance which ought to be considered by the Supreme Court
at this time and because this was a very clear case of contempt of
court."

Jefferies, who was Yeates' landlord at the time of her death in
December 2010, was arrested on suspicion of murder in January, but
later released without charge.

In July
Jefferies accepted an undisclosed sum in the high court after
successfully suing the Sun, Daily Mirror, Sunday Mirror, Daily
Mail, Daily Star, Daily Express, Daily Record, and the Scotsman for
libel.

Yeates' neighbour Vincent Tabak, a 33-year-old Dutch national, was
later arrested and was found guilty of her murder in October.

The attorney general presented the case against the Mirror and the
Sun after warning the media at the time that coverage was at risk
of prejudicing a trial.

At the time of the ruling he said that the decision was a reminder
that the Contempt of Court Act applies from the moment of arrest,
and not from the moment a suspect is charged.